4 h. ago The moment I knew: we were discussing Jane Austen when I told her I wanted to be with her for ever

After meeting Miranda at a footy screening, Darcy Green found her a little terrifying. Months later, their feelings came pouring outFind more stories from the moment I knew seriesIn 2018 I moved from Sydney to Oxford to complete my masters. My mum was born in London, and I was raised on my gran’s stories about England, so moving to Oxford felt oddly like going home.I was excited to get my degree, visit as many beautiful libraries as possible and play all the sports I could cram into my calendar. Falling in love wasn’t on my wishlist, but then I met Miranda. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Cariad Lloyd and Rachel Parris look back: ‘We’ve been through a lot – trying for children, losing parents but our friendship is constant’

The comedians on their first meeting, pissing each other off, and a shared obsession with Pride and PrejudiceBorn in London in 1982, Cariad Lloyd is a comedian, actor and podcaster. She met comedian and musician Rachel Parris, born in Leicester in 1984, through improv comedy. Along with six other comedians, they formed Austentatious. The show is an improvised Jane Austen novel, based on an audience’s suggestion for a title, and is currently on at the Vaudeville theatre in London. Beyond their stage work, Cariad hosts the podcast Griefcast and is a co-host on Weirdos Book Club and Rachel worked on The Mash Report and publishes Introducing Mrs Collins: A Pride and Prejudice Novel on 6 November. Continue reading...

Society

8 d. ago Turner v Constable: Tate Britain exhibition invokes long history of artistic rivalries

From Michelangelo and Leonardo to Picasso and Matisse, bitter feuds have defined art. But are contemporary artists more collaborative than their renaissance predecessors?“He has been here and fired a gun,” John Constable said of JMW Turner. A shootout between these two titans would make a good scene for in a film of their lives, but in reality all Turner did at the 1832 Royal Academy exhibition was add a splash of red to a seascape, to distract from the Constable canvas beside it.That was by far the most heated moment in what seems to us a struggle on land and sea for supremacy in British art. It’s impossible not to see Tate Britain’s new double header of their work this way. For it is a truth universally acknowledged, to paraphrase their contemporary Jane Austen, that when two great artists live at the same time, they must be bitter and remorseless rivals. But is that really so, and does it help or hinder creativity? Continue reading...

Culture

1 week ago Win a copy of The Austen Christmas Murders by Jessica Bull in this week’s Fabulous book competition

CELEBRATE 250 years of the Pride And Prejudice writer with a fab festive crime caper that re-imagines Jane Austen as an author turned sleuth. When she finds a skeleton in the cellar and hears stories of a young bride who vanished and now haunts the woods, she must investigate! 10 lucky Fabulous readers will win...

Events

2 w. ago Winter has finally kicked in – it’s time to crack out the casserole dish and get stewing

The temperature has truly dropped, so get a pot of something warming and delicious going on the stove. Plus: Amy Poon’s perfect post-pub fareSign up here for our weekly food newsletter, FeastAt the risk of sounding like a British cliche, can we take a moment to discuss the change in the weather? This week’s sudden drop in temperature has our house excited for potential snow (the children are giddy), with everything suddenly feeling a lot more wintry. New coats are on the hooks, thermals are being dug out and a casserole dish filled with some sort of soup, stew or stock seems to be permanently ticking away on the hob. These range from quick, warming weeknight dinners to leisurely, slow-cooked weekend meals.Whatever the time of year, I always have speedy packets of wontons and gyozas in the freezer, and cook them depending on how I feel (fried and steamed versus boiled and soupy). At the moment, I am craving warmth and nourishment, and Meera Sodha’s quickish vegan wonton soup hits all...

Politics

2 w. ago Is this Meghan's strangest 'moment' yet? Duchess is 'announced' like royalty and discusses the bravery of making jam in gushing Harper's Bazaar interview

In a gushing interview with Harper's Bazaar, where she is also the next cover star with a 'bareface' portrait, the Duchess of Sussex says her British husband will always have her back.

Politics

2 w. ago Is this Meghan's strangest 'moment' yet? Duchess is 'announced' like royalty and discusses the bravery of making jam in gushing Harper's Bazaar interview 

In a gushing interview with Harper's Bazaar, where she is also the next cover star with a 'bareface' portrait, the Duchess of Sussex says her British husband will always have her back.

Politics

2 w. ago Meghan's most bizarre 'moment' yet? Duchess is 'announced' like royalty and discusses the bravery of making jam in gushing Harper's Bazaar interview

In a gushing interview with Harper's Bazaar, where she is also the next cover star with a 'bareface' portrait, the Duchess of Sussex says her British husband will always have her back.

Politics

2 w. ago Tess Daly shares 'pinch me moment' as she discusses job away from Strictly before exit

It comes as the broadcaster has been at the helm of the hit BBC One dance show since it began back in 2004

Politics

2 w. ago Denise Welch addresses 'storming off set' after demanding apology from 'patronising' boss

Loose Women star Denise Welch said the boss in question later apologised, though not in the way she hoped, as she discussed the awkward on-set moment

Events

2 w. ago Outlander icon bags major role in remake of 'one of the best' period dramas

A Jane Austen classic is getting a new adaptation with stars from Outlander, Normal People and Hanna.

Events

2 w. ago The Smallville star who joined a sex cult: best podcasts of the week

After serving time in jail, actor Allison Mack opens up about her experiences in a group with links to sex trafficking. Plus, a deep dive into Jane Austen Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Cynthia Erivo breaks her silence on THAT viral 'holding space' interview with Ariana Grande as she poses for stunning GQ shoot

The moment saw the pair discussing Wicked: Part One's closing number, Defying Gravity, with a journalist - who claimed fans were 'taking the lyrics' and 'really holding space with that'.

Events

3 w. ago Does Britain value culture any more? Ask the striking workers at the British Library | Zadie Smith

The dispute over pay at this great national institution gets to the heart of our misplaced prioritiesYou know a country by its values. By what a country values. And it turns out that what a country values can change over time. Sometimes, though, there’s a sort of cognitive delay between the country you think you are in, and the country you’ve actually become. For example, you can keep selling yourself, to foreigners, as the country of William Shakespeare and Jane Austen, and luring busloads of tourists to Stratford-upon-Avon and Bath, and put a statue of George Orwell in front of the BBC, and imagine yourself a cultured and literate nation, which the rest of the world admires for its devotion to the written word – but if you then chronically underfund your cultural institutions, and treat your cultural workers with contempt, many people will suspect you of being full of it. And as the decades pass – and fewer and fewer Shakespeares and Austens and Orwells emerge from your little isl...

Events

3 w. ago Village at war with council over new homes plan for countryside that inspired Jane Austen

The rolling fields of east Hampshire are said to have helped the author pen some of her most famous novels, including Pride and Prejudice - but locals now fear they will soon be "concreted over"

Events

3 w. ago Residents' fury over plans to build 20,000 new homes on countryside that inspired Jane Austen

Locals in East Hampshire fear Labour's housing targets will turn the green fields that inspired Pride & Prejudice into sprawling housing estates.

Politics